VIC/TAS

SPA is celebrating the success of the public launch of the TOUGH CROWD series.

Tough Crowd is our new YouTube series where much loved comedian Rod Quantock interviews comedians, environmentalists, politicians and other interesting people on their perspectives on population and their personal journeys and challenges when dealing and talking about this difficult but very important topic.

In episode one, Series one of Tough Crowd, Rod Quantock chats with comedian/musician Jude Perl. Jude discusses her reasons for not having children and some of the challenges involved in convincing her friends and family on her decision. Jude discusses how she incorporates her child- free journey into her live shows and songs and why it is important to be a role model for others who are having second thoughts on having children. Jude goes on to perform a live rendition of her very topical original song, 'Let's Hang Out'.

Other interviews include Sri Lankan born environmental scientist Asitha Samarawickrama, and candidates for AJP and Sustainable Australia, Bruce Poon and Mark McDonald.

The Tough Crowd series was formed by a chance meeting between Rod Quantock and former SPA National President, Dr James Ward. The idea was to create a personable, relatable and entertaining series of interviews around the challenges of talking about population in wider society. The project was funded by a generous donation from Dick Smith in conjunction to SPA's first ever crowd funding campaign.

We hosted a public screening in Melbourne to celebrate the project, acknowledge the crowd funding supporters and other contributors to the project, and to finally launch the series to the wider world. The response to the screening was enthusiastic and supportive. The screening was part of the Sustainable Living Festival program and we thank SLF for their partnership and support.

Episode one of Tough Crowd is now available to watch on our YouTube channel. We will be releasing an episode every couple of weeks so stay tuned!

Celebrate the launch of the Tough Crowd web series, featuring live performances by Rod Quantock, OAM and Jude Perl, comedian and musician.

Population is an issue that is a concern to many environmentalists and this issue is not just the responsibility of policy makers, it can influence people’s personal decisions, such as having children. Rod Quantock interviews comedians and interesting people on the challenges they face in discussing population as an environmental issue.

Tough Crowd intimately explores people’s attitudes toward environmental concerns on population, including decisions around raising families and the difficulties in discussing these issues in society.

The launch will also celebrate the committment of the generous donors to the Crowdfunding Campaign that made this all possible

The screening is in partnership with the 2019 Sustainable Living Festival.

To our Victorian members, Victorian supporters, and anyone living in Victoria concerned about the record population growth in the state. Growth which is threatening to liveability and long term sustainability of both Melbourne and regional Victoria.

With a freshly elected Victorian state parliament, we suspect that population will be a hot topic for the next parliamentary term.

Therefore, it is an ideal time to write to your serving MPs to tell them exactly why high population in Victoria is not serving you.

The more of us that write to our politicians, the louder the voice for change in population policy will become.

For this reason, we have written a pro-forma letter that we believe covers the main points, makes a convincing argument and is keeping to the style that we believe politicians will read.

Please feel free to use the entirely of this pro-forma or to personalise it when sending to your local lower and upper house MPS.

I am writing to you today in relation to the rapid rate of population growth within our state, particularly within Greater Melbourne, which is growing at over 100,000 per annum. The only debate within government and the media is centred around “where Victoria should house all of the population growth”, but surely the bigger debate is on the merits of population growth, and whether it is a good idea at all?

Population growth is an issue which exacerbates many of the common concerns of today:congestion, liveability, environment, water security, public-debt, and housing affordability. Therefore, it is essential that the all levels of government consider these issues against any future population growth.

Melbourne reached 5 million in 2018, and is now projected to be a Megacity of 8 million by 2051. This would be a very poor outcome for residents:
A Melbourne of 8 million is not a liveable city.
A Melbourne of 8 million is not a prosperous city.
A Melbourne of 8 million is not a sustainable city.
A Melbourne of 8 million is not an affordable city.

The Victorian government’s plan to continue to expand the suburban fringe (i) has created large pockets of sprawl, which offer a poor quality of life for residents. City fringe residents face commute times of up to 2 hours, and confined to a 300m2 block (ii) , yet don’t enjoy any of the benefits of rural lifestyles. However, with median house prices in excess of $1 million for the majority of Melbourne’s established suburbs, few families have a choice but to live in these fringe estates.

The alternative of increasing the density of Melbourne with more apartments is no panacea either. Historic buildings and family homes have been replaced with cranes and constructions sites across all of inner Melbourne. It is a property developers’ paradise. For residents, however, high density living has been shown to have adverse mental and physical effects .

The Property Council and business lobby groups will insist that more infrastructure is the solution. Planning consultant Marcus Spiller has said, “We are now just so far behind that there's almost no way to catch up with the growth". (iii) Current infrastructure projects such as: the level crossing removal ($4 billion), the Melbourne metro project ($11 billion), Northeast link ($15 billion) are a huge impost on the state’s budget, and are at best a band-aid on the city’s growing congestion. Furthermore, the huge cost of this “growth infrastructure” is diverting funds away from other essential services, while piling the state under a mountain of debt.

The Treasurer, Tim Pallas, has trumpeted the benefits of population growth as a boon for the Victorian Economy. This ignores the fact that per capita, the Victorian economy has gone backwards in four of the past eight years (iv). Our current trajectory towards a future of 8 million Melbournians is perilous, and not in the best interests of the electorate.

I urge you consider the following actions:
1. To actively debate the topic of population growth within state parliament, and to seek public consultation on the current growth agenda
2. To develop a population policy which considers all of the impacts of population growth on Australia’s: economy, health, environment, and living standards.
3. Negotiate with the federal government to reduce Australia’s immigration intake in line with long-term historical levels of 70,000 per annum. Net migration is responsible for 60% of Australia’s annual population increase, making immigration policy our ‘de facto’ population policy, at present.

Sustainable Population Australia is inviting all Australians who are concerned about our unsustainable population to growth to contact their Federal MPs before the next Federal election.

Now that population is a hotter topic than ever in the halls of parliament, the next few months are an ideal time to contact our MPs to give a loud and clear message that we, the voters, do NOT want a big Australia.

The more of us that write to our politicians, the louder the voice on this issue will be heard.

We have prepared a pro-forma letter to provide the style and content which we want to be communicating to our politicians. We invite you to personalise and to use as much of this letter as you wish when contacting your MP.

To find your local federal members, the search function can be found here

Good luck!

Pro Forma letter:

{MP name}

{date}

Dear (title and name of MP) ,

I am writing to draw to your attention the need for a mature and respectful debate about rapid population growth and to seek your views on this issue.

Globally population growth has risen dramatically in the last two centuries. In 1800, the global population was 1 billion people. By 2018, it had risen to 7.7 billion people. It is now rising by 80 million every year - an extra billion people every 12 years - and shows no sign of slowing down.

Population growth is the underlying cause of most wars - due to conflict over access to scarce resources, refugee movements, and a key factor in climate change – it’s hard to reduce your carbon footprint if you keep adding more feet! The global population of
7.7 billion has had a catastrophic effect on the world’s wildlife, many species have been pushed to the brink of extinction.

Australia’s population growth is even more pronounced. Whereas our population was
10 million in 1960, it has now risen to 25 million, and is on track to be 40 million by 2050 and 100 million by 2100.

The principal growth driver is a big jump in immigration levels. This was initially introduced by the Howard government in 2003, but this policy has continued by subsequent governments. Net migration levels have almost quadrupled from the twentieth century average of 52,000 per annum, to over 200,000 per annum.
The secondary growth driver is natural increase, more births than deaths - averaging 150,000 more each year (30% of births are to migrant mothers). The combined result of both migration and natural increase, is domestic population growth of one million every 3 years, with no signs of slowing down.
Our growth rate exceeds the global average, and is more than double the OECD average.

Our rapid population growth has led to adverse consequences for: housing affordability,
job opportunities for young people, traffic congestion, and carbon emissions. Furthermore, the impact on our cities, open space, and on our wildlife, has been devastating.

Against this background, I am keen to hear your thoughts on rapid population growth.
In particular, on four suggestions which I believe would make Australia and the world a better place both now and particularly in the future:

1. Increasing the proportion of our aid which goes to family planning. The international picture is dismal - family planning gets a mere 0.4% of international aid. Past evidence shows that spending money in this area works, and could stabilise global populations, whilst also raising living standards of recipient countries.

2. Returning Australia’s net migration to the numbers we had last century, rather than the rapid spike of the 21st. Australia will remain a multicultural, diverse country, even with more moderate immigration, and could maintain the current level of refugees intake. Indeed it is likely that public support for a compassionate refugee program would increase if the migrant worker programs, which are often exploited, were scaled back.

3. Australia’s rapid population growth happened without Australians being given a say in it. Can we get a plebiscite about our population levels? If this is not possible, Australians living in the major cities should at least have their say in planning matters returned to them. One of the many undesirable features of rapid growth in our cities has been the theft of a real say in planning decisions from local residents. Will you support measures to return a real say in planning decisions to the residents who are most affected by them?

4. Finally, are you prepared to support a mature and respectful debate around these issues? For far too long there has a been a deafening silence from Members of Parliament concerning population. The right has supported the greed of big business and the mantra of growth at any price. The left has become attached to the idea of open borders, an idea which is ecologically illiterate and hopelessly politically naive. The consequence has been the suppression of a debate our country needs to have.

We must stabilise our population to ensure a positive future, for both our children and the many other species on the planet. What do you think?

NOMINATIONS for COMMITTEE POSITIONS: Financial members of SPA may nominate for any committee position, President, Vice President, Treasurer, Secretary or committee member Please email before 28th September to victas@population.org.au or write to: RETURNING OFFICER , SUSTAINABLE POPULATION AUSTRALIA, Victorian and Tasmanian branch, P.O.BOX 556 Hawthorn 3122 to arrive before Friday September 28th

Following the formal proceedings, you are invited to our public seminar

“What does the Australian public really think about a Big Australia and what do the media try to make them think?”

Presenters:

Dr. Katharine Betts, Adjunct Associate Professor of Sociology, Swinburne University, Author of “The Great Divide: immigration politics in Australia”, and researcher for The Australian Population Research Institute. Dr. Betts will present her research into attitudes of the Australian public towards Australia’s current high immigration- driven population growth.

Ian Penrose, Melbourne’s first Yarra Riverkeeper, City of Melbourne 2010 Environmental Award winner, Boroondara citizen of of the year 2015, long term campaigner for population stabilization. Mr.Penrose will present his recent research into the way the media in Australia frames the population issue.

SPA is very excited to share that we are joining forces with the highly loved Melbourne Comedian ROD QUANTOCK to make a web series exploring the topic of population growth!

TOUGH CROWD will be a first of a kind series . Rod will be interviewing other comedians and entertainers to discuss the challenges and difficulties they face when discussing population in wider society.

This series has HUGE potential to draw interest from wider society. Interviews will share their experience with a poignancy and flare that will be engaging and informative.

Furthermore, if Rod has anything to do with it, the web series will also be raucously funny. If there is one thing our movement needs, it is a generous dose of HUMOUR.

It is a project that SPA has never tried before. It is CRITICAL during this time when mainstream society is actually talking about the issue that we are ready to step up to the challenge and reach out to the ‘Tough Crowd’ out there.

To make this project a success, we need YOUR help.

Many SPA members are now aware of our CROWDFUNDING campaign, which we have launched to raise funds for the series. Support for our campaign has been hugely positive so far, we have raised $3000 so far with 2 weeks left to go to reach our target of $4500.

Funds are needed for the production cost of the series, including reimbursements for the interviewees, venue higher, editing and promotion. We also need to to purchase additional film equipment to make this series snappy and professional.

We would be hugely grateful if you were to have a look at the site and consider giving a pledge. It can be as small as $2, every little bit counts and furthermore it is tax deductible! For those who choose to pledge more, there are some good rewards up for grabs. These include your name on the credits , a free CD from my band, all the way through to your own personal lunch with Rod Quantock himself!

It would also be fantastic if you could share this crowd funding campaign with your family, colleagues, networks, fellow resident group members or activists, or indeed ANYONE. Not everyone is in a position to join SPA, but they may be keen on this project if they are concerned about population - or if they are a Rod Quantock fan!

Every cent will count. We are living in a time when Australia is around the corner from hitting a population of 25 million. Melbourne is now heading upwards of 9 million by 2050, and Australia is growing by the size of a new Canberra every year. We are concreting over our farmland, we are expected to run low in water within a decade and Australia has one of the highest rates of land clearing in the world. We NEED to get the message out there.

Please visit the crowdfunding webpage here to find out more and to leave a pledge

We have launched our first ever on-line crowd funding campaign (in addition to the end of financial year appeal). Crowd funding is an increasingly popular way for people to raise money to set up specific projects and can be a great way to gain exposure and a new audience.

SPA is raising funds to launch a mini web series called 'Tough Crowd'. We are excited to announce Melbourne Comedian Rod Quantock has come on board to assist. In his relaxed and amusing 'conversations in the pub' style Rod will interview fellow comedians, entertainers and others about the challenges faced in discussing population in the wider community. SPA is seeking support through our Pozible campaign to fund the whole project, including equipment costs, expenses for our ‘actors’, venue hire, promotion and all the other costs associated with the challenge of making a video series!

The Pozible campaign can be foundhere and Rod Quantock's lively promotional videohere. We would be delighted to have your support and ask too for you to encourage friends, family, and your networks to play a part. This project may appeal to people who might not otherwise consider joining SPA – but they have to know about it first! Even if they choose not to fund the project it is still good publicity.

We are also proud to announce that our PopCulture web page is now up and running - you can find it here. Have a look at our youth unemployment video and share it. Be proud because you and other SPA members previously helped fund this through a donations drive. This site will host future PopCulture videos. That same video can also be found on our newly reinvigorated YouTube channel here. While we plan to undertake online promotion of the videos you, as members, can play a role by sharing them widely, especially with those particularly affected by issues such as job insecurity and housing affordability. Who knows, after seeing the videos they too may be motivated to contribute to our ‘Tough Crowd’ campaign!

In what is now a yearly tradition, Sustainable Population Australia will be at Melbourne’s Sustainable Living Festival (SLF) in February.

Volunteers from the Victoria and Tasmania branch will be holding a SPA information stall during the SLF Big Weekend. The Big Weekend runs from 9 - 11 February at Melbourne’s Federation Square and Birrarung Marr.

With thousands of people attending the Big Weekend, this is one of the biggest opportunities of the year for the branch to reach out to the wider community on the issue of population.

Our enthusiastic volunteers and members have been working hard behind the scenes in the lead up to this year’s festival in planning the stall the key messages to share to the public. The stall will also be selling books written by past and former members of SPA such as Growing For Broke by Peter North, Dynamic Balance by Martin Tye and Rules of Animal and Human Populations by Sheila Newman.

SPA members Michael Bayliss and Mark Allen will also be running at workshop Town Planning Response to Climate Change as part of the Sustainable Living Festival.

At the workshop you can learn about how current town planning models affect the environment. We'll discuss ways to change town planning systems and communities to reduce their environmental impact.

The impacts of population growth on our town planning system will be highlighted and discussed in depth.

When 23rd of February from 6:30pm to 8:00pmWhere Michael’s intentional community home in Preston, Melbourne

Stay to watch the the documentary Lamnas - UK’s first planned EcoVillage at 08:30pm.

Experience tells us this workshop is a great way to introduce the importance of town planning and population issues to people who are new to these ideas, particularly for younger people who are feeling disaffected by the current property market.

We encourage SPA members to pass on information about the workshop to anyone who they feel may benefit from attending.

Find more about the workshop here.
Book tickets click here. Please note that this workshop is by donation on arrival.

We would also like to draw attention to the fact that one of the key speakers for this year’s SLF, Paul Hawken, is a strong advocate for global population sustainability, where his Project Drawdown has evaluated that reducing fertility is one of the biggest and most cost-effective contribution to emissions reduction.

Find out more about Paul and the rest of the Sustainable Living Festival at their site here.

If you are around in Melbourne during any of these events over February and would like to come along to support or say hello. We'd love to see you.

This year the NSW Branch of SPA is hosting the National AGM of SPA in Sydney at the Sydney Mechanics’ School of Arts (SMSA), 280 Pitt St Sydney, in the Mitchell Theatre (Level 1) on Saturday 29th April.

Current members are welcome to participate in the AGM at 10am. All members of the public are welcome to the afternoon forum: "Population - the way forward" at 1pm. This will include speakers James Ward (incoming national president) and Graham Wood (NSW branch president).